Weight loss surgery has gotten a great deal of attention because it seems to reverse diabetes quickly and lead to major weight loss for people who had struggled to lose weight through dieting.
Making the stomach smaller through surgery seems like a near-magical fix, although it is far from risk free. Infections, bleeding, nausea and vomiting and digestive tract obstruction are complications that led to first-month readmission of 6% of the patients undergoing such surgery in one top Canadian hospital (Surgical Endoscopy, online, Aug. 15, 2015).
Although weight loss surgery is a powerful tool, it may not be quite as beneficial as it first appeared. New research from Israel suggests that the long-term benefits of bariatric surgery seem to fade over time.
Five Years of Data from Weight Loss Surgery:
The investigators tracked over 400 obese individuals who had stomach reducing procedures. They collected information on weight loss and metabolic parameters.
Within the first year, the subjects lost about 77 percent of their initial body weight, on average. After five years, that amount had slipped to 56 percent–much less, but still impressive.
Diabetes Crept Back Too:
The metabolic benefits also diminished over time. About half of those who had diabetes before weight loss surgery had healthy blood sugar after a year, but after five years only one-fifth had normal blood sugar.
Unanswered Question:
We are very interested in what allowed those who kept their weight off to do so. Unfortunately, the researchers don’t provide answers to that question. We suspect that people need to change what they eat and how they move, and possibly even alter their intestinal bacteria, to achieve lasting weight control and the health benefits expected from it.
